Occidental Oriented - January 2017 - MacKenzie Nekton

Occidental Oriented - January 2017 - MacKenzie Nekton

The rain is pitter-pattering outside my window, the heater is on, and the Christmas lights strung along the deck are twinkling. It’s winter now, really and truly. I’ve converted to wearing only sweaters. It’s a wonderful time of the year, when the leaves are electric green on the evergreens and everything is shiny and dripping. The air is fresh and awake, the air sippy. I love this time of year. This year, I especially love it because I’m hearing back from colleges, getting back admissions decisions. For some, I guess this could be a damper on the fun, if you’re getting back rejection and not acceptances, but I’m lucky. So far, I’ve heard back from Boston College and Northeastern University, and I got in to both! For me, that has imbued this holiday season with some extra cause for cheer, and I’m hopeful and excited about what next year will bring. That’s this month’s theme, actually : Hope for the New Year. I have my own personal hope, which is helping me feel hopeful for the new year in a larger sense. In the spirit of both hope and New Year’s Resolutions, here are some of my hopes/proposed resolutions for the new year. This year, however, instead of publishing ones for myself here, these are for Occidental.

Let’s deal with the sandwich board sign problem. We have so many signs that they all have become meaningless. Maybe we could dedicate a single portion of the sidewalk to signs, or say that only four signs could be up at a time, and impose a two-week sign limit, so the signs would rotate. Maybe we could say no to all signs that aren’t for specific events. I, personally, think that all the signs are starting to look a little trashy, and I don’t think Occidental is a trashy town. Email me your solutions to the sign problem!

Let’s make some visible progress on the Community Center building. We’ve been talking about it for a long time, and we have lots of good ideas, so let’s get started on enacting them.

Let’s all resolve to pick up trash when we walk by it. We all can chip in to make Occidental prettier. Similarly, if you see an illegal trash dump on the side of the road, call the Sonoma County Roads Department at (707) 565-5100 to report it.

Also this year, let’s all start exercising by going to West County Bootcamp. They have classes on Monday, Wednesday, and Saturday at 8am, Tuesday and Friday at 7am, and Friday 9am. I won’t be there, because I have school during those times, but you should be! The classes are HIIT style – that means High Intensity Interval Training, but it’s for all levels, so don’t be intimidated by the name. Go to their website, westcountybootcamp.com for more information on pricing and how to sign up.

On Saturday, January 21st, from 8 to 10 in the evening let’s all go see ZipLine Improv at the Occidental Center for the Arts. They’re a new, local improv troop with a focus of storytelling. It’s going to be great fun, so you should definitely go to their show – it might not be what you think! Actually, let’s all resolve to get out and see at least one to see of the Occidental Center for the Arts’ shows – they have a great track record and it’s always fun to see live music, theater, and other types of art. Also remember to check out the art showings, the OCA has great gallery shows every year.

As always, check out the Occidental calendar for weekly events and classes offered all throughout Occidental.

My last, and largest resolution for Occidental, and California in general, is that we hold on to our identity and ideals through whatever is about to come with the new year, and our new president.